Spinning at the Seams

The week seemed to pass in a blur. Adam kept IMing me random questions he had for me about my opinions on a layout. When I at first refused to respond, he began calling Marc who would then IM me random things till I finally responded to Adam. Mason had finally figured out how to prank Adam, though he refused to tell me, something about fewer witnesses. I had already turned over Marc’s helmet and cleats to him, so I just decided to drop the issue. Now it was Friday, the day of our annual Homecoming football game. We were the worst team in the division, so we were guaranteed to lose no matter whom we played. But so we at least didn’t lose to badly, we chose to play Bradton High, a school whose record was a dismal as ours. At least it will be an even match-up, I thought to myself as I pulled into the school parking lot.

I quickly scanned the already gathered crowd and spotted Molly jumping up and down, some form of pop in her hand. I walked, well jogged really, to her and took the soda out of her hand.

“Who let you have this?” I asked, and spotted Tristan a few feet away talking with Christa. “Did Tristan give you money to get something to eat?” She shook her head and tried to get the pop back, I held it above my head, and waited for her to explain.

“NO! THE GROUP GAVE MONEY TO TRISTAN, AND THEY SENT ME, THOUGH I CAN’T IMAGINE WHY, TO HELP HIM CARRY THE STUFF! THEN TRISTAN SPOTTED CHRISTA, AND HE TOLD ME TO ORDER FOR EVERYONE! HE TOLD ME TO USE WHATEVER CHANGE THERE WAS TO GET MYSELF SOMETHING BECAUSE MY MOM FORGOT TO GIVE ME MONEY! CAN I HAVE WHAT I BOUGHT BACK NOW!?” She now started jumping trying to get the pop back. I just shook my head. She was not getting this back, because this was dangerous for people’s eardrums if she got it. I turned threw it away causing her to pout and proceeded to order her water, and a thing of popcorn which cheered her up. She started walking back with part of the order, munching happily on her popcorn while I turned to deal with Tristan the idiot.

“Tristan!” I screamed when I was standing right behind him, he jumped and whirled around. Christa shot me an annoyed look, which I ignored, she never liked me.

“You let Molly order!? And you didn’t watch to see what she ordered?! Tristan, you know what happens when she’s given soda, it’s the reason we don’t give her any!” I watched his eyes go wide, and his head turn to watch Molly’s now skipping body as she proceeded to where Melinda was standing with Danielle and the rest of the band. “Don’t worry, I caught her before she could drink any.” He looked relieved and then annoyed when I proceeded to smack him on the back of the head.

“What was that for?” I shot him my classic ‘you know what’ look, and he scowled.

“You don’t have to be so violent.” It was my turn to scowl as I turned to face Adam. He was wearing his football jersey and pants, seeing that the sophomores played first. His black hair was gelled back, and his blue eyes were dancing with delight. I felt my heart stop, he looked so hot! No, a voice in my head scolded, don’t think like that! But I really couldn’t help it. I felt myself falter for words, but was saved as Breanna walked up to me.

“Hey, you mind if I sit with you for the game, as much as I hate football, Jared’s in the band and asked me to come. I have a hard time saying no to him, especially when he reminds me of how he comes to my soccer games.” She stopped and looked at Adam, who I must have still been staring at. “Hi, I’m Breanna, and you are?”

“Adam, nice to meet you Breanna.” His eyes never left my face as I said this, and I was brought from my state of shock by a piercing whistle. Adam turned, and then looked back at us, well me. “That’s coach, we have to go and get suited up, and sit on the sidelines for the sophomore game, I’ll catch up with you guys later.” With that he jogged off, and Breanna waved a hand in my face.

“Hello, anyone in there?” I turned to look at her.

“Yes, and you can sit with us. I didn’t know that Jared was in the band. But then again, usually during the half time show, I’m talking to one of the sophomore players about the game. But I don’t have to interview the sophomores today, so I can watch the show. Come on, I’ll show you where we’re sitting.” I led her to the first row of the bleachers, reserved for the scouts and newspaper. My friends were already gathered, talking animatedly amongst themselves. The conversation cut off the second I approached, but I didn’t notice. I was too busy watching Marc as he walked, he was making faces, and I wondered what song was playing in his ears. This game was going to be hilarious.

The first half of the game was terrible for the team. It was filled with fumbles, missed catches, injuries, the works. It was funny to watch Marc’s face the entire game; he kept tapping his helmet, and looking like he was about to murder someone. He really hated Hannah Montana music. When we finally got a field goal chance, the look on his face was priceless as ‘See You Again’, not only played in his helmet, but throughout the entire stadium as well. Then, it was the bands turn to take the field, and I watched Breanna tense beside me.

“What’s up?” I asked her watching her face, she seemed focused on something, and as I followed her gaze I saw it was her boyfriend. He was wearing a snare drum. The black shirt and black pants of drum line uniform gave him an edgy appearance. His red hair was blowing slightly in the wind, and kept hitting against his glasses. His tall frame was easy to spot amongst the short, and weighed down drummers. The band got into formation, and the audience listened as the school song was played, the band moving in a time beat out by Jared’s drum.

Suddenly the song seemed faster, and I noticed a mischievous glint in Jared’s eyes. Breanna’s face looked a mix of amusement and annoyance. I looked at the rest of the band. Luke, Melinda’s brother, looked bewildered, and was trying to keep up with the faster tempo on his tenor drum, suddenly those five drums looked very far away from each other. Mel’s face was confused as well, as she played the clarinet and tried to march in the same faster beat. Danielle looked annoyed as she played her clarinet, she didn’t like marching in the first place, and she only did this because she had to in order to play her instrument at all. Kelsey was trying to keep her flag twirling faster, as was the rest of the color guard and failing rather miserably. The tempo then slowed, and I watched as the band tried to slow its pace. Unfortunately not everyone got the message, as a few of the bass drums suddenly bumped into one another causing bit of a chain reaction. The audience was half horrified, half amused, and the football players on the sidelines were laughing hysterically. That caused the varsity to turn and watch from their huddle, and their laughter could be heard booming in time with the pit orchestra players, who didn’t have to move, except to different instruments. They were still playing but failing to hold back their laughter.

The bass drums finally righted themselves, as did the rest of the band, and the tempo went back to normal for the rest of the song. However that couldn’t dim the laughter that was slowly engulfing the stadium. The song came to a close and the band stopped moving. But Jared kept the drum tempo going, the band all exchanged glances, unsure of what to do. A few of them shot a look at their drum majors, who had given up on directing them a long time ago. They were all exchanging glances as well, and finally decided to direct the band to start playing. The second they started, Jared stopped and then looked at Breanna. Breanna, turned to look at me, and I could see her cheeks going red.

“Please tell me he’s done this before.” Her eyes were pleading; I couldn’t stop my laughter so I just shook my head no. She sighed and shook her head, what that boy was willing to do to show her he liked her. The band then took their exit, and Mel, Luke, Danielle, Kelsey and Jared came towards us.

“So what did you think?” Asked Jared, that caused the group to burst into laughter again. Mallory spoke first, in between fits of laughter.

“That.. is.. so getting five stars … in my review.” She finally managed to get out, as she leaned against Ben trying to catch her breath. Shannon was nodding as well, finally getting her laughter under control.

“Oh yeah, five stars no doubt in mine as well, that was awesome.” She shivered in the cold November air, and Kyle gave her his jacket, which brought a smile to her face.

The rest of the game was non-important to anyone but myself. We lost, big shock there, and I decided to skip a team interview, I was tired and really didn’t feel like talking to the players who would all say how it wasn’t their fault it was someone else’s. I’d heard that before, I’d rather just type it as I saw it and forget the players’ perspectives. When I got home my phone starting going off, but I was too tired to answer it, so I went straight to bed, setting my alarm for tomorrow morning. We had a paper meeting at nine and then the girls were all going to get our hair and nails done. To bad I didn’t answer my phone then, it may have saved me a lot of grief later.